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TV apps use the same structure as those for phones and tablets. This similarity means you can
modify your existing apps to also run on TV devices or create new apps based on what you already
know about building apps for Android.

Important: Your app must meet specific requirements to
qualify as an Android TV app on Google Play. For more information, see the requirements listed
in TV App Quality.

This lesson describes how to prepare your development environment for building TV apps, and the
minimum required changes to enable an app to run on TV devices.

Determine media format support

See the following documentation for information about the codecs, protocols, and formats
supported by Android TV.

Set up a TV project

This section discusses how to modify an existing Android app to run on TV devices, or create a
new app. If you have an existing Android app, adding Android TV support lets you design
a user interface for TV while re-using your existing app architecture.

Note: We recommend having a single app that supports both
mobile devices and TV devices. If you need separate apps for mobile devices and TV
devices, you can publish multiple apps under the same listing on Google Play by
using multiple APK support. For more information, see
Multiple APK Support.

These are the main components you should use to create an app that runs on TV devices:

Activity for TV (Required) - In your application manifest,
declare an activity that is intended to run on TV devices.

TV Support Libraries (Optional) - There are several
Support Libraries
available for TV devices that provide widgets for building user interfaces.

Create or update your app project
In order to access new APIs for TV devices, you must create a project or modify an existing
project that targets Android 5.0 (API level 21) or higher.

Declare a TV Activity

An application intended to run on TV devices must declare a launcher activity for TV
in its manifest. It uses a CATEGORY_LEANBACK_LAUNCHER intent
filter to do this. This filter identifies your app as being enabled for TV, and lets
Google Play identify it as a TV app. When a user selects your app on their TV home screen,
this intent identifies which activity to launch.

The following code snippet shows how to include this intent filter in your manifest:

The second activity manifest entry in this example specifies that activity as the one to
launch on a TV device.

Caution: If you do not include the
CATEGORY_LEANBACK_LAUNCHER intent filter in
your app, it is not visible to users running Google Play on TV devices. Also, if your
app does not have this filter when you use developer tools to load it onto a TV device, the app
does not appear in the TV user interface.

If you are modifying an existing app for use on TV, your app should not use the same
activity layout for TV that it does for phones and tablets. Your TV app's user interface (or
TV portion of your existing app) should provide a simpler interface for easy navigation
using a remote control from a couch. For guidelines on designing an app for TV, see the TV Design guide. For more information on the minimum
implementation requirements for interface layouts on TV, see Building Layouts for TV.

Declare Leanback support

Declare that your app uses the Leanback user interface required by Android TV. If you are developing
an app that runs on mobile (phones, wearables, tablets, etc.) as well as Android TV, set the
required attribute value to false. If you set the required attribute value
to true, your app will run only on devices that use the Leanback UI.

Declare touchscreen not required

Applications that are intended to run on TV devices do not rely on touch screens for input.
To make this clear, your TV app's manifest must declare that the
android.hardware.touchscreen feature is not required. This setting identifies your app as being
able to work on a TV device, and is required for your app to be considered a TV app in Google
Play. The following code example shows how to include this manifest declaration:

Caution: In your app manifest, you must declare that a touch screen is not required,
as shown this example code; otherwise your app won't appear in Google Play on TV
devices.

Provide a home screen banner

If an application includes a Leanback launcher intent filter, it must provide a
home screen banner image for each localization. The banner is the app launch
point that appears on the home screen in the apps and games rows.
To add the banner to your app, describe the banner in the manifest as follows:

Use the android:banner
attribute with the <application>
tag to supply a default banner for all application activities, or with the
<activity>
tag to supply a banner for a specific activity.

The banner should be an xhdpi resource with a size of 320 x 180 px. Text must be included in the
image. If your app is available in more than one language, you must provide separate versions of the
banner with text for each supported language.

Change the launcher color

When a TV app launches, the system displays an animation that resembles an expanding, filled
circle. To customize the color of this animation, set the android:colorPrimary
attribute of your TV app or activity to a specific color. You should also set two additional
transition overlap attributes to true, as shown in the following snippet from a
theme resource XML file:

Add TV support libraries

The Android SDK includes support libraries for use with TV apps. These
libraries provide APIs and user interface widgets for TV devices. The libraries, which are
located in the <sdk>/extras/android/support/ directory, are as follows:

Note: You are not required to use these support libraries for your TV app.
However, we strongly recommend using them, particularly for apps that provide a media catalog
browsing interface.

If you decide to use the v17 leanback library for your app, you should note that it is dependent
on the v4 support library. Thus,
apps that use the leanback support library must include the following support
libraries:

v4 support library

v7 recyclerview support library

v17 leanback support library

The v17 leanback library contains resources that require specific steps to include
the library in app projects. For instructions on importing a support library with resources, see
Support Library Setup.

Build TV apps

After you have completed the steps described above, it's time to start building apps for
the big screen! Check out these additional topics to help you build your app for TV:

Building TV Playback Apps - TVs are
built to entertain, so Android provides a set of user interface tools and widgets for building
TV apps that play videos and music, and let users browse for the content they want.

Helping Users Find Your Content on TV -
With all the content choices at users' fingertips, helping them find content they enjoy is almost
as important as providing that content. This training discusses how to surface your content on
TV devices.

Building TV Games - TV devices are a great
platform for games. See this topic for information on building great game experiences for TV.

Building TV Channels - Present your video
content in a linear, "broadcast TV" style with channels and programs that your users can access
through a program guide as well as the channel up/down buttons.

Run TV apps

Running your app is an important part of the development process. You can run your app on
TV devices configured to support USB debugging, or use virtual TV devices.

Run on a real device

Set up your TV device as follows:

Use a USB cable to connect your TV device to your development machine. If needed,
refer to documentation provided by your device manufacturer.

On your TV device, navigate to Settings.

In the Device row, select About.

Scroll down to Build and select Build several times until you get the message,
"You are now a developer!"

Return to Settings. In the Preferences row, select Developer options.

Select Debugging > USB debugging and select On.

Navigate back to the TV home screen.

To test your application on your TV device:

In Android Studio, select your project and click
Run
from the toolbar.

Run on a virtual device

The AVD Manager in the Android
SDK provides the device definitions that allow you to create virtual TV devices for running and
testing your applications.

To create a virtual TV device:

Start the AVD Manager. For more information, see the
AVD Manager help.

In the AVD Manager dialog, click the Device Definitions tab.

Select one of the Android TV device definitions and click Create AVD.

Select the emulator options and click OK to create the AVD.

Note: For best performance of the TV emulator device, enable the Use
Host GPU option and, where supported, use virtual device acceleration. For
more information on the emulator's hardware acceleration, see
Using the Emulator.

To test your application on the virtual TV device:

In Android Studio, select your project and click
Run
from the toolbar.